Improvement in cotton-presses



UNITED STATES PATENT EETCE.

CALEB S. HUNT, OF BRIDGEVATER, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON-PRESSES.

Specification forming part ofLetters Patent No. 14,095, dated January 15, 1856.

To all whom, it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, OALEB S. HUNT, of Bridgewater, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Presses for Compressing Cotton, or any Fibrous or other Material; and I do hereby declare that the following description ,taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, hereinafter referred to, forms a full and exact specification of the same, wherein I have set forth the nature and principles of my said improvements, by which my invention may be distinguished from others of a similar class, together with such parts as I claim and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent.

The igures of the accompanying plate of drawings represent my improvements. Figure'l is a central vertical section of my improved press. Fig. 2 is a similar partial section showing the parts in a different position from that representedin Fig. l. Fig. 8 is a horizontal section taken in the plane of the line A B, Fig. 1.

The present invention,which has for its object the compressing of cotton or other material which it is desirable to reduce in bulk, consists in a combination of devices, by means of which either a quick or slow motion can be given to the platen or platform upon which the material to be compressed is placed, it being desirable to give a quick motion to the platen at one part of the operation,when lthere is but little resistance, and a slow and more powerful movement when the material is compressed nearly to the desired extent. Various mechanical contrivances have been resorted` to for'securing these results; but they have mostly failed, either from their intricacy or lack of strength and liability to get out of repair, so that the Newell press77 (so called, which consists of a platen on a single screw worked bya turning nut) is the one most approved by general use. In my improved press the quick motion is given to the platen by means of a turning nut traveling upon the screw upon which the platen is iixed, the said screw having coarse threads of a large pitch. The slow motion is secured by means of an outer nut, the threads of which are finer and have a less pitch or inclination than those of the main screw, which works upon a corresponding male screw cut upon the exterior of the said inner n'ut. The inner and outer nuts are connected so as to turn together, whereby the inner nut alone will perform the work by turning on the main coarse screw, or disconnected, whereby the outer nut will complete the operation by traveling on the fine thread formed on the exterior of the inner nut, as will be hereinafter fully explained.

a a a in the drawings represent the sup porting frame-work of the press. b bis the platen,which travels up and down in suitable guides formed upon the side frame-work, a a. The platen Z1 b is secured to the top of the long vertical screw-shaft c c, the threads of which are coarse and have a large pitch or inclination. d d is a nut having a female screw cut upon the inside of the same, which iits the large screw c c. By turning the nut d d the screw c c and the platen b b, upon which the material to be compressed is placed ,will be rapidly elevated. l

To the top of thc nut d d is rigidly secured a plate, e, a semicireular clasp, f, upon which has a dog, g, that abuts against a projection or stud, h, on a collar, i z', directly under the plate e. a part of a nut, 7c lc, a female screw on the inside of which iits a corresponding male screw formed on the exterior of the iirst or inner nut, d (l. the inner nut, d d, are much finer and of less pitch than those of the main screw c c.

From the above description it will be seen that the clasp f, with its dog g fitting over the stud h, connects the plate e, iixed to the nut d d, as before stated, to the collar i i, which forms a part of the outer nut, 7c k,- and that by turning the outer nut, 7c It', by means of a clasp, Z Z, and lever m, Figs. l and 2, the outer and inner nuts, collar t' i, and plate c will turn as though formed in one piece, and cause the inner nut, d d, to travel upon the coarse main screw c c, and thereby rapidly advance the same, the collar z' t' having a bearing against a fixed metallic ring or washer, an, inserted in a shoulder of the lower part of the frame a a, as shown in Figs. l and 2. Vhen the cotton or other material is so far compressed as to oppose a great resistance to the advance of the platen b b, a spring-pawl, o, Fig. 3, attached to the plate c, engages with a notch or series The collar z' i is secured to or forms The threads upon the exterior of of notches cut in the thread of the main screw c c, or upon that part of the main screw upon which the point of the pawl constantly bears as it follows a spiral track, and thereby holds the inner nut stationary, and preventing it from turning on the screw c c, and the platen from descending whenever the 'inner nut, d d,

of the plate c is disconnected from the outer plate or collar, it', of the outer nut, 7c 7c, as next hereinafter described. The clasp f, that turns upon centers p 1), FigL 3, is then turned up into the position shown in Fig. 2, so as to free the dog g from the stud h on the collar t' t', thereby disconnecting the plate c of the inner nut, d @from the collar t' i of the outer nut,

7c 7c. The inner nut being thus held stationary upon the main screw c c by the pawl o, the outer nut, 7c 7c, is then turned, traveling upon the fine threads formed on the exterior of the inner nut, and, as the said threads have but little pitch, thereby elevating the screw c c and platen b b with a slow but powerful movement.

The compressing operation being completed,

the pawl o is disengaged from the screw c c,

and the platen b b will descend by its own weight after lthe clasp Z Z, by means of which power is applied to the outer nut, 7c 7c, through the lever m, is disengaged from the said nut by any suitable arrangement of meehanieal devices, and the collare' z turned back till the connection between it and the plate e is re-` established by means of the dog g and stud h,

as before described.

The above-described combination of devices for successively bringing into action the rapid movement of a' coarse screw of a large pitch and the more powerful movement of a finer screw of smaller pitch is exactly adapted to the requirements of a press for compressing cotton or other similar material, as when the bale is reduced in bulk nearly to the desired extent theA resistance is so great as to prevent the successful operation of a coarse screw of large pitch, whereas by means of a screw having fine threads and small pitch its turning nut, by the small pitch of the threads, operates more powerfully in raising the platen, and holds whatever advance is given to the platen much more effectually than a coarse screw of large pitch could do.

Any suitable devices may be substituted for those-hereinabove described for connecting the inner and outer nuts together, or disconnecting the same, as it is evident that there are a variety of arrangements which would successfully accomplish the desired result.

I am aware that a press has been constructed in which a revolving male screw attached to the platen has been inclosed within an annular revolving screw nut which is itself inclosed within and matched to a stationary screw-nut that has finer threads upon its inner periphery than the threads upon the male screw, and that a rapid movement of the platen of said press is produced .by applying power first directly to the male screw, and then, to produce a slow and powerful movement of said platen, the power is transferred to levers connected to the said annular revolving screw-nut. .i

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The peculiar arrangement of the respective parts of my improved press by which I am enabled, with a single lever, to impart either a weak and rapid movement or a slow and powerful movement to the platen of said press, or to any one of similar eonstruction-viz., a non revolving male screw attached to the platen is embraced by two or more matched and movable concentric screw nuts whose uniting threads and grooves have a less dcgree ot' inclination than the threads upon the said male screw, and which are arranged in such a manner in relation to said male screw and the operating-lever as to produce at will the desired movements of the platen, substantially as herein set forth.

GALEB S. HUNT. Witnesses:

EZRA LINCOLN, JOHN CoDMAN. 

